Issei Hyoudou (Broken Wings)
￼Issei Hyoudou is the main protagonist of the canonical series, High School: DXD, as well as the fanfiction, Broken Wings . A mercenary and squad leader for the terrorist organization, Zero Army, Issei infiltrates Rias Gremory's peerage with the hidden objective of plotting against Sirzechs Lucifer. Appearance Issei is described as having the appearance of a young man, his facial traits often leading people to believe that he is 20 or 21, when he in fact is only 17. He has white hair, resulted of his physical torture at the hands of Maria, and soft brown eyes. He is noted for his muscular frame and prefers mostly a dark outfit, with military leather shirt and black pants, as well as a pair of boots. ￼Personality Issei is, at first glance, a cold, ruthless and emotionless mercenary. When attacked, he can get extremely psychotic, to the point of going on a killing rampage, not being able to hold back his anger. Issei is also shown to be extremely cunning and manipulative, as he led Sirzechs and Azazel believe he wanted to get revenge on Maria for the physical torture he endured at her hands, when in fact he worked as her agent in the Gremory peerage. He is versed in psychological warfare and can easily earn a naive person's trust. He is subtly insidious, as he can create the illusion of being a friendly individual when the facade is needed. Due to his tragic past, Issei is notably engaged in more mature activities than his comrades in Rias' peerage, as he is shown drinking whiskey with Azazel and is revealed by Raiser Phenex to be the only member of the peerage who is not a virgin anymore. Since he's become used with his lifestyle as soldier, Issei also is noted to feel more comfortable drinking in a bar than seating at a table in a luxury mansion with one of the most important families in the Underworld. Deep down, Issei is a rather insecure and traumatized person. The torture at Maria's hands, as well as the death of Margit and his other comrades has shaped his bitter personality and current view of the world. He displays a hatred for his own existence, discontent with being used as a pawn in Maria's game to earn revenge. To this end, he secretly plots to betray Maria and earn his freedom from the Zero Army, as he is shown to be willing to cut all of his relationships, betraying the ORC and sacrificing his comrades, just for that purpose. He openly declares he would die if that meant he died as a free man, released from her grip. Despite his sadistic and unstable personality, Issei still has a certain degree of morals, as, despite knowing that the circle of revenge may never stop, plans to weaken it by sacrifing himself, going as far as to claim he hates the world and wants to awaken Trihexa, ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of Koneko. History Issei Hyoudou was born on 30 July 1997, in Kuoh, Japan. Not much is known about Issei before he joined the Zero Army, apart for the fact that he was a hardcore pervert and that his childhood friend was Irina Shidou. At the age of 14, Issei was captured by the Zero Army, where he had been held as a prisoner in their base of operation in the United States, close to the border with Canada, and tortured by a blonde woman, named Maria, who attempted to awaken his Sacred Gear and break him into joining the Zero Army. After weeks of torture, Issei is able to free himself, but rather than get revenge on Maria, he agrees to join the Zero Army. Two weeks after joining the Zero Army, Issei becomes the disciple of a woman named Margit, who trains him to become a soldier, teaching him hand-to-hand combat and weaponry use, including marksmanship and swordsmanship. His first assignments include minor assassinations and kidnappings, and he joins the Suicide Squad after awakening his power as the Red Dragon Emperor. His first more serious mission was in Russia, where he had several targets, both of the Russian mafia and counter-terrorists, eliminated. After 8 months of training, Issei engages in his first military experience, a war in Africa, which is won by the Zero Army. After one year, he and Margit were tortured by Levente, who killed Margit right before Issei's eyes, causing him a huge trauma afterwards. Plot Powers and Abilities As he was born in a normal family from human parents, Issei is noted to have no talent whatsoever, and his skills in magic are poor, even after becoming a Devil. However, his lapsus very much seems to be compensated by his abilities, as well as his Boosted Gear, thus making Issei an opponent to be reckoned with. Powers Boosted Gear (赤龍帝の籠手ブーステッド･ギア, Būsuteddo Gia): Issei's Sacred Gear and main weapon. The Boosted Gear is one of the 13 Longinus which holds the spirit of the Welsh Dragon, the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig, one of the Heavenly Dragons. It is said to have the power to kill a God when fully mastered. Boosted Gear takes the form of a red gauntlet on the wielder's left hand that has the ability to Boost the user's power every 10 seconds without limit, and its sub-ability can Transfer the multiplied power to a being or object, it can even be used on certain parts of the user's body such as the eyes for enhanced vision. *'Boosted Gear: Scale Mail' (赤龍帝の鎧ブーステッド・ギア・スケイルメイル, Būsuteddo Gia: Sukeiru Meiru): The Balance Breaker of Boosted Gear that creates a Red Dragon Armor. In this form Issei can Boost without the 10 second limit. At the back of his armor there are two rocket boosters that gives a temporary boost of speed and flight. After the activation of the Juggernaut Drive, Issei's Scale Mail gained a pair of retractable Dragon Wings with pteranodon-like claws that he can use as arms. Dividing Wyvern Fairy (白龍皇の妖精達ディバイディング・ワイバーン・フェアリー, Dibaidingu Waibān Fearī): Originally taking the form of Dividing Gear (白龍皇の籠手ディバイディング・ギア, Dibaidingu Gia), a white gauntlet on Issei's right hand which he obtained in his initial battle against Vali in Volume 4. Issei placed one of the jewels on Vali's armor to his, creating the Dividing Gear which allows him to use Albion's dividing powers. This ability, however, reduces Issei's lifespan. Abilities Marksmanship: Issei is shown to be a skilled marksman, due to his training with Margit after joining the Zero Army, as guns were his master's speciality. This particular ability is seen in the flashbacks of his operations within the Zero Army, mostly during the campaign in Africa, where he is equipped with a HK416 assault riffle, and is able to inflict a lot of damage with it. Hand-to-hand Combat : Issei is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat due to his training with Margit during his time with the Zero Army. This ability is further enhanced after Issei trains with Tannin before the Rating Game with Sairaorg Bael. Knife Handling : Issei is shown to be very skilled with a knife, due to his training in the Zero Army. He is noted to always keep a hidden knife on him to use whenever he is disarmed in his Balance Break form or in case of a surprise attack. As such, he was shown to be able to barely hold off a sword attack with his knife in his first fight against Cao Cao. Swordsmanship: Having been trained by Margit, Issei displays a rather skilled swordsmanship. He is noted for his knowledge of a lot of sword techniques, which he claims he had learned from Gilgamesh, a sword maniac. This skill is shown particularly during the operation in the Underworld, where Issei is able to defeat the guards of the Gremory Family with barely two tonfas, despite the fact that they were Devils. Keen Intellect: Issei is fairly intelligent and calculating. He shows this ability as he was able to manipulate the Gremory Peerage and the Three Factions and hide his real intentions for a time, until openly betraying them and beginning the next stage of his plan. It is implied that he also planned to stage the betrayal against Maria in a manner that could allow him to cut his past relationships before staining his final plan to sacrifice himself for a better world. Multilingual: Besides his native Japanese, Issei is shown to be speaking English and Russian as well, which he knows without his Devil abilities to understand every language, as he spent three years in the United States with the Zero Army. Quotes I told you Koneko. I am a monster. - to Koneko'' '' *Maria: Do you think you will become some sort of a tragic hero? It's done. Over. The world will not change. You are the bad guy. Nothing will change that fact. *Issei: No, I won't be hero, of course. Being a hero or doing the right thing has never been the objective. History has branded me a traitor, and it will brand me the villain of this century. Don't you get that? No one will care that you were the one behind it all, and I was just the figure head - you screwed up. Just this once, you screwed up. That's just life. You have to do things you don't want to. You have to suffer to live. You can keep your regret, you can retain your anger. I'm sorry, but we will die here. Every single thing we did in life has led us to this place. Trivia *Issei draws some parallels to Seidou Takizawa from Tokyo Ghoul **Both had joined the organization that captured and tortured them, accepting their new lives as terrorists, only to plot and eventually betray the organization later on, albeit under different circumstances. *Issei's relationship with Margit resembles the relationship between Yuuji Kazami and Asako Kusakabe from Grisaia no Kajitsu Category:Under Construction Category:Canon Characters Category:Canon Male Characters Category:Canon Devils Category:Fanon Humans